The Pennsylvania man assaulted in October by a Muslim who was offended by his Halloween parade “Zombie Muhammad” costume said he has received hundreds of death threats after a judge dismissed his attacker’s criminal charges.
Ernest Perce told The Daily Caller that Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim man, “grabbed me, choked me from the back, and spun me around to try to get my sign off that was wrapped around my neck.”
Elbayomy reportedly admitted to a police officer, Sgt. Bryan Curtis, that he attempted to rip Perce’s fake beard off, remove his “Muhammed of Islam” sign and choke him.
Perce said he believes Elbayomy thought it was illegal in the United States to insult Muhammad, as it is in countries whose governments are based on Sharia law.
Last week Judge Mark Martin sided with Perce’s attacker, saying in open court that Perce would be put to death in Muslim societies for showing disrespect to Muhammad. The judge dismissed the charges against Elbayomy.
“You’re way outside your boundaries of First Amendment rights,” the judge said during the trial.
“Martin’s decision effectively says that Muslims do not have to learn to accept blasphemy against their religion without violence.” Pence told TheDC. “Yet when you are a citizen of the USA, you accept our Constitution. Free speech is our foundation.” (RELATED: Judge dismisses charges against Muslim man who attacked atheist dress as ‘Zombie Muhammad’)
The same judge is also threatening Perce with contempt of court for making and sharing a recording of the courtroom hearing.
Listen to the courtroom proceedings:
Perce says he has received 471 threats against his life in the short time since his attacker was acquitted.
“People have said that they would kill me, rip my eyes out, run me over, shoot me and then laugh at me, since I have blasphemed Muhammad,” he told TheDC. “They say I will be found out and hung in front of my family.”
During his trial, Talaag Elbayomy claimed he never made physical contact with Perce, creating what Judge Martin called a he-said/she-said situation. Sgt. Curtis testified that Perce’s version of events was correct, but the judge ignored his testimony.
Judge Martin also refused to allow a video taken the night of the attack to be entered as evidence.
Perce told TheDC that he believes Martin did not allow the video to be shown in his courtroom because he “would be offended.”
In fact, Martin told Perce during the proceedings that “I’m a Muslim” and “I find it offensive.”
Perce says Martin held a copy of the Quran while admonishing him for disrespecting Muhammad with his costume. (Judge Martin has since denied being a Muslim.)
Martin’s threat of contempt charges came after Perce posted his own audio recording of the proceedings on YouTube.
Perce says the judge initially gave him permission to release it, but the court later instructed him to erase it.
He told TheDC that he wrote to Bonnie Snyder, administrative secretary of the Cumberland County District Court in Pennsylvania, explaining that “Judge Martin gave both parties the right/permission to record the proceeding on our cellular devices.”
Snyder denied this. “Are you instructing me via Judge Martin to destroy or delete and not use my audio recording?” he asked.
“Yes, since you were not authorized to make any recordings,” Snyder replied.
Perce said Judge Martin told him, “I will hold you in contempt of court under section 42 of the Judicial System” if he didn’t remove the audio from YouTube.
“He denies this now,” said Perce, “but this is what he told me.”
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